Card games

ABSTRACT

A gambling card game played in three main stages: initial betting and dealing, bet adjustment, and band checking and payouts. In the first stage, each player places an initial bet and is dealt a three-card hand, and the dealer is dealt a single card. In the second stage, each player increases their initial bet by a multiple (within predetermined limits) chosen by the player in dependence on the hand dealt to them. A player can also place a Bonus bet if their hand is all court cards. In the third stage, the dealer pays out on bets on hands for which any card in the hand matches the dealer&#39;s card in suit and exceeds it in value, and also on Bonus belts (at the same odds) for winning hands.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to card games, and more specifically togambling card games and apparatus for playing them.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is a wide variety of gambling card games. In some, allparticipants are on an essentially equal footing; others are of thecasino type in which there is a dealer or “house” which operates thegame and against which the players play. The present invention isconcerned with the latter type of game (although, of course, it may beagreed that different players can become dealer as the sessionprogresses).

Different types of games can involve different degrees of complexity andskill. It is desirable for a game to have the right degree ofcomplexity; if it is too complex then many potential players will be putoff, whereas if it is too simple, then potential players will soon loseinterest. The same applies to skill; if little or no skill is involved(eg simply cutting for the highest card for fixed stakes) then potentialplayers will soon lose interest, whereas if it appears to demand a highlevel of skill, then many potential players will be put off.

The object of the present invention is to provide a game which is noveland attractive (ie involves intermediate levels of complexity andskill).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention there is provided a casino-type card game,the main features of which area as follows.

-   -   The game is played with a standard pack of playing cards.    -   Each player is dealt a hand of a fixed number of cards,        preferably 3, and the dealer is dealt a single card.    -   Each player places an initial bet and then increases it by a        multiple (within predetermined limits) chosen by the player in        dependence on the hand dealt to the player.    -   A hand wins if any card in it matches the dealer's card in suit        and exceeds it in value.    -   The dealer's card is discarded if it is above a certain value        and another card dealt.

The number of players is variable, from one (apart from the dealer) upto the number of player positions on the playing surface. Partnershipsbetween players are not allowed, and each player may play only one hand.

According to another aspect of the invention there is provided apparatusfor playing a casino-type card game comprising a playing table having adealer position and a plurality of player positions arranged around thedealer position, each player position having an ANTE box or area, andthere being a plurality of arcs around the dealer position, each arcpassing through all the player positions, and the arcs being labelledwith successive multipliers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEDRAWINGS

A game embodying the invention will now be described in detail, by wayof example and with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the playing table;

FIG. 1A shows a modification of a player position;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of computerized apparatus forplaying the game; and

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram of part of the display of the apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1, the game is played at a table or playing surface 10having a dealer position 11 and a plurality of player positions 12suitably marked, either directly on the table top or on a cloth laidover the table top. The various positions are suitably marked to definevarious area discussed below, with the player positions 12 being laidout in an arc around the dealer position 11. The table is preferablyapproximately D shaped, with the dealer position at the middle of thevertical line of the D and the player positions spaced around the curveof the D facing the dealer.

For each player position, the table has marked on it a respective box orlocation 21 which has the word “ANTE” in it and a similar box orlocation 21 which has the word “BONUS” in it. In addition, the table hasa set of 5 arcs 20 laid out on it parallel to the curved edge of the D.These arcs are marked with the symbols “x5”, “x4”, “x3”, “x2”, and “x1”as shown. The markings are repeated at intervals along the arcs, betweenthe player positions 12, as shown.

FIG. 1A shows a modified form of player position 12A. There are 5positions 20A corresponding to the arcs 20 and an ANTE position 21A. Inaddition, there is a BONUS position 22A which serves only for placingBonus bets, the cards being placed on a card position 22B.

To play the game, each player chooses an initial stake and places thatstake in their ANTE box. The dealer then deals out a hand of 3 cards toeach player, placing the cards in the BONUS box 22. Each player theninspects their hand and decides how much to bet as a Raise bet. TheRaise bet has to be a multiple of between 1 and 5 times the player'soriginal stake, and the player makes the bet by placing the appropriatemultiple of the original stake on the chosen line 20 (leaving theoriginal stake in the ANTE box). If the player decides to throw in theirhand, they lose their initial stake. In addition, if all the player'scards are court cards (A, K, Q, and J), they can place a Bonus bet, ofup to 10 times their Ante bet. The Bonus bet is placed in their BONUSbox 22. The Bonus box may be identified by a name having suitablypositive connotations, such as “Kaboom”, which may also be used as thename of bonus hands and the game.

When all players have made their bets, the dealer deals a singledealer's card. If the dealer's card is a court card, it is discarded andthe dealer deals another card, until the dealers card is 10 or below.Each player then compares their hand with the dealer's card. A playerwins if they have a card with the same suit as the dealer's card and ofhigher value. The card values are defined as A (ace, highest), followedby K, Q, etc, down to 2 (lowest). If the player has made a BONUS bet andhas a winning hand, then they are also paid out on the Bonus bet at thesame odds (ie as defined by the line 20 they have chosen for their Raisebet).

As an example, suppose that a player has staked £5 in the ANTE box, andis dealt a hand consisting of the 8 of clubs, the Q of diamonds, and theJ of clubs. The player has to increase their bet by a multiple ofbetween 1 and 5; suppose that the player likes the fact that their cardsare generally high, and therefore chooses to increase their stake by themaximum multiple of 5. The player therefore places £25 on the “x5” line20. Suppose then that the dealer's card, ie the card exposed by thedealer, is the 9 of diamonds. When the player exposes their hand, the 8of clubs and the J of clubs are losing cards, since they are notdiamonds (the suit of the dealer's card). The Q of diamonds, however, isof the same suit as the dealer's card and is of higher rank (Q is higherthan 9). The player has therefore won, and is paid £30 (ie the originalstake plus the chosen multiple, x5, the original stake). The player alsoretains all their stake money.

It will of course be realized that many of the specific features of thegame may be varied. Thus the number of cards dealt to the players may bevaried, the number of allowed multiples of the original stake may bevaried, the player may make their final bet by moving their stake fromthe ANTE box directly forwards to the appropriate arc 20 in front ofthem, and/or may indicate their final bet by using a marker rather thanactual money. The sequence of events can be varied, eg by the dealer'scard being dealt at an earlier stage (although obviously it cannot beexposed until the players have all made their final bets). Also, thetable may be provided with raised and/or indented regions as well as orinstead of markings, to minimize the chances of stakes or markers beingplaced in ambiguous positions.

Further, the rules for winning and losing hands may be varied. Thus anAce, for example, may be defined as either a high card or a low card. Inthe preferred form of the game, if dealer's card is above 10, it isdisregarded and another card is dealt by the dealer, so that in effect,the dealer's card cannot have a value above 10. This limiting value canbe varied, and a lower limiting value can be used instead or as well(with a dealer's card below a set level being discarded and anotherdealer's card dealt). Alternatively, a dealer's card value above and/orbelow the set limit can be declared an automatic player's win (or loss).

FIG. 2 shows apparatus for playing the game. There is a plurality ofplayer units 40-1 to 40-n which are coupled via a communication system41, such as the Internet, with a game playing system comprising anadministration unit 42, a player register 43, and a game unit 45. Eachunit 40 is typically a personal computer with a display unit and controlmeans (a keyboard and a mouse).

When a player logs on to the game playing system, their unit 40identifies itself to the administration unit. The system holds thedetails of the players in the register 43, which contains separateplayer register units 44-1 to 44-n for all the potential players, ie forall the members of the system.

Once the player has been identified, the player is assigned to a gameunit 45. The game unit contains a set of player data units 46-1 to 46-6,a dealer unit 47, a control unit 48, and a random dealing unit 49.

Up to seven players can be assigned to the game unit 45. There can beseveral such units, as indicated, so that several games can be played atthe same time if there are more than seven members of the system loggedon at the same time. The assignment of a player unit 40 to a player dataunit 46 may be arbitrary or random, depending on which player data units46 and game units 45 are free. Each player data unit 46 is loaded fromthe corresponding player register unit 44 and also contains essentiallythe same details as the corresponding player unit 40, and is incommunication with the player unit 40 to keep the contents of the playerunit and player data unit updated with each other. In addition, theappropriate parts of the contents of the other player data units 46 andthe dealer unit 47 are passed to the player unit 40 for display.

The logic unit 48 of the game unit 45 steps the game unit through thevarious stages of the play, initiating the dealer actions and awaitingthe appropriate responses from the player units 40. The random dealingunit 49 deals cards essentially randomly to the dealer unit 47 and theplayer data units 46. At the end of the hand, the logic unit passes theresults of the hand, ie the wins and/or losses, to the player data units46 to inform the players of their results. The administrative unit 42also takes those results and updates the player register units 44accordingly.

The player units 40 are arranged to show a display which essentiallycorresponds to the layout shown in FIG. 1. To identify the player, theplayer's position is highlighted. As play proceeds, so the playerselects the various boxes, enters bets in them, and so on, and theresults of those actions are displayed. As the cards are dealt, a seriesof overlapping card symbols is shown in the Bonus box 22, as indicatedat 55 in FIG. 3. At the option of the player, the cards can be shown ina line 56 below the box 22, and similarly for the card dealt to thedealer. At the end of the hand, a message is displayed informing theplayer of the results of their bets, ie the amounts won or lost.

In the claims, all references in parentheses to technical features arereferences within the meaning of EPC Rule 29(7), whether the referencesare to individual features within specific figures or to completefigures, and are not to be taken as implying reliance on those featureswithin the meaning of Rule 29(6).

1. A gambling card comprising: a first stage in which each player placesan initial bet and is dealt a hand of a fixed number of cards and thedealer is dealt a single card; a second stage in which each playerincreases their initial bet by a multiple (within predetermined limits)chosen by the player in dependence on the hand dealt to them; and athird stage in which the dealer pays out on bets on hands for which anycard in the hand matches the dealer's card in suit and exceeds it invalue.
 2. A game according to claim 1 played with a standard pack ofplaying cards and wherein the hands are 3-card hands.
 3. A gameaccording to claim 1 wherein the dealer's card is discarded if it isabove a certain value and another card dealt.
 4. A game according toclaim 1 wherein each player can make a further bet, at the same odds assaid chosen multiple, if their hand consists wholly of court cards.
 5. Agame board for playing the game according to claim
 1. 6. Apparatus forplaying the game of claim 1 comprising a plurality of player units whichare coupled via a communication system with a game playing system. 7.Apparatus according to claim 6 wherein the game playing system comprisesan administration unit, a player register, and a game unit.
 8. Apparatusaccording to claim 6 wherein the communication system is the Internet.9. (Cancel)